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The good news is that I have been swimming steady so this summer as compared to the last several summers with 6-8 dry weeks. But somehow I have a reoccurring vulnerable wellness period from the end of end of July through most of August where my lower back is aching, various allergies, arms/shoulders are tender, and my energy levels fluctuate regardless of my ongoing effort towards healthy lifestyle and fitness. There could some correlation with that the second half of summer and early fall is usually the peak workload time for my professional projects and contracts. This week was good in that my lower back has regained a pain-free status without the use of any OTC NSAID, and my energy levels are more consistent.

I have been working on developing my freestyle speed as sustainable and efficient towards competing in the 200, 100, and 50 events. I was pleased with Set 1 to swim FR 50s of 34/33 with SPL 24-25, as it was not that long ago when swimming FR SPL-28 LCM even slowly was a challenge. Set 3 was supposed to be 2(4x100 broken at 50), but after 3x100 I was really tired, so recovered a while, then attempted another round. Each time the first 50 would feel so steady and smooth, then I would have to really build the kick and power the arms trying to swim a 31 or 30 the second 50. I was really wiped out after finishing Set 3.

Mon, Wed, Fri are LCM sessions, and Tue, Thur are SCY sessions where Sat is a mix of LCM/SCY or just SCY. The FGCU LCM pool will be transitioned as two SCY courses on Sept. 19 until the completion of the Women's NCAA DIV I season. I will miss LCM, where my preference would be to have access to both SCY & LCM year round for the different training dynamics available from each course.

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I have some moderate reoccurring allergy issues, mostly in the spring, that seem to negatively impact breathing and clearly impact energy level. Sometimes I feel like the allergies impact URI resistance and i'm really just fighting off some kind of long winded low grade infection. Claritin helps the allergy symptoms, but doesn't help the lack of energy and motivation. Some years I seem to go right through without an issue. Swimming seems to help improve respiration.
At any rate, nice splits in the broken LCM 100s. I foresee a great 200 free coming on!

Your speed pace work looks great and that endurance you have previously focused on will form a great base for you as you come down in distance on some of your upcoming races. I suspect you will have a great season in the pool. I know it's a long way out but are you thinking about worlds in Montreal next summer? If it works out with work and family it will be a great meet and a nice summer target.

I have some moderate reoccurring allergy issues, mostly in the spring, that seem to negatively impact breathing and clearly impact energy level. Sometimes I feel like the allergies impact URI resistance and i'm really just fighting off some kind of long winded low grade infection. Claritin helps the allergy symptoms, but doesn't help the lack of energy and motivation. Some years I seem to go right through without an issue. Swimming seems to help improve respiration.
At any rate, nice splits in the broken LCM 100s. I foresee a great 200 free coming on!

Thanks for your comment. Most of the time I am not sure what to blame for those minor nagging symptoms. All those years when lap swimming, at the most I sometimes had some heavy breathing or occasional muscular fatigue. However last winter and spring when training for the USMS 5K Nationals and 800M at Pan Pacific Champs, I trained very hard, experiencing breathing difficulty and sometimes panicky feelings. Looking back now, perhaps it was too much stress on my system, and ultimately I was tired at the 5K swim and then I crashed and burned during the 800M. Finally for the 3K OW at Pan Pacs, I decided to just relax swim it at 75%-80% leading to a good experience and decent swim. Since then I have trained the distance more moderately and developed my kicking, skills, underwaters, and speed. This seems to be working out better. Also, I think taking the night time allergy tabs (as recommended by my doctor) have been useful.

Your speed pace work looks great and that endurance you have previously focused on will form a great base for you as you come down in distance on some of your upcoming races. I suspect you will have a great season in the pool. I know it's a long way out but are you thinking about worlds in Montreal next summer? If it works out with work and family it will be a great meet and a nice summer target.

Thanks Stewart. Yes, I am working on speed for now, but I will still be doing local OW swims. At the Rowdy Gaines this October in Orlando-FL,I am considering to swim the 400 IM on Friday, and along with some sprint events on Sat and Sun.

Montreal is a fantastic travel destination for the combination of a swim meet and family trip. Having swum at the "Stade Olympique" pool, I can say with great enthusiasm what an awesome experience it is. Unfortunately, it appears at this point that I will have a professional conflict with the upcoming 2014 World Championship next summer.